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Društvo Fenomeni Književnost Kazalište Film Glazba Vizualne umjetnosti Sportovi Zanimljivosti Razgovor Kolumna Ostalo

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Datum objave:	30.05.2013
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The Cubans in the international artistic life

Alex Castro,Carlos Acosta,William Levy

Militia speaks! Alex Castro on PinkMafiaRadio.com (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgbh2sronYY

Militia speaks! Alex Castro on PinkMafiaRadio.com (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9xoOhZIAJo&feature=related

Alex Castro graced us with an interview and photo shoot so we could talk about his work as the gladiator "Militia" on the mega relaunch of "American Gladiators". PinkMafiaRadio is proud to present this interview with coverage of Alex as he shoots with some of my favorite Photographers Kurt R. Brown and Gregory Prescott. Special thanks to Rufskin for providing Alex with some great clothes for this shoot.

Please check out the amazing work by the photographers featured in this episode.

Speical thanks also go to Camrin Pitts of Little Red Pictures for doing a fantastic job editing this episode. My deepest gratitude also goes to Nir Ziberman of Just One LA for all his help with the clothes. Thanks again to the fellas over at Rufskin for making clothes so exceptionally.

To those of you who notice a lack of direct questions about issues relating to any controversial subjects I ask that you forgive me this once. I have great respect for Alex and felt that bringing him into a public debate over those issues would help no one.

Thank you for tuning in, please send feedback to Steven@PinkMafiaRadio.com

Alex Castro

http://www.timsah.com/Alex-Castro/CrTPQPyeo3q

Interview

Q: "What inspired you to come to the American Gladiators Try Outs initially?"

Militia: "I was a fan of the old American Gladiators and I feel like I've been a Gladiator myself for my whole life you know, trying to survive. I just wanted to try out, I'm very physical and that's what I do for a living. Everything relating to my life is about training and staying healthy. My whole life has brought me to this point and it just felt so right for me to try out to become a Gladiator."

Q: "What did you have to do to become an American Gladiator?"

Militia: "There were so many things. It was very difficult and the competition for the role was extremely tough. We had many medical tests, along with strength tests. They included some running too and pull ups. It was very physical; hardcore physical tests."

Q: "What do you like about being an American Gladiator?"

Militia: "This is an honour to be a Gladiator. We've been chosen from over seven thousand people, who really competed hard before getting eliminated. So this is an honour to be here and to be a Gladiator."

Q: "What's your sporting background?"

Militia: "I am a cirque performer. I'm an acrobat. I've served in the Marine Core. I spent four years in the Marines. I went voluntarily in the Marines, because I was rescued from the Ocean by the Marines Boat when I left Cuba - I owe them my life."

Q: "How do you feel your background with the Cirque and the Marines has helped you?"

Militia: "The discipline and training has physically prepared me for this. I also have excellent balance. The Marines taught me how to be competitive and I train hard to win every time."

Q: "So what did you do with the Cirque du Soleil?"

Militia: "My speciality is balancing. I have toured both America and Europe. I was in Las Vegas doing different cirque shows. I have done two European tours; the first tour was 47 shows and the second was 68. I spent two years in Europe on each tour and really loved Europe. I've been to London three times. I have lots of friends in London and took the train from Paris, where I used to live for a while."

Q: "Do you have a favourite event yet?"

Militia: "My favourite event is Hang Tough, but I am injured and couldn't really hang on. I was trying, because I really want to do it. Hang Tough is my speciality. My other speciality is rock climbing, so I love The Wall."

Q: "When did you pick up your injury?"

Militia: "I injured myself during Earthquake. That is an awesome event, but I injured my elbow during the fight. I'm going to be fine though."

Q: "Are there any events that you don't like?"

Militia: "Games that I don't like ? Well, they are just all so much fun. I like all of them. It is good to different things. If I have to choose one, then it would be Pyramid."

Q: "How do you think American Gladiators will change your life?"

Militia: "I feel like I was blessed to serve this country in the marines and now I feel like I am living an American Dream. I feel like NBC and the Gladiators Family have given me the chance of a lifetime to change my life. I think that this will completely change my life and change my kids' life. I am very sure it will. We haven't really started yet, but just look at the reaction in this arena already. I am so grateful of all the support."

Q: "Do you like the name 'Militia'?"

Militia: "I like it. I've been in the marines and I feel that Militia is to do with my background. I want to carry on with this name and I want to make the name proud. I want to represent that name and make it stand out for what it means. Militia means an army of one and I want to do that name some justice."

Q: "Your son has been watching you in the arena, how does he feel about his dad being an American Gladiator?"

Militia: "He loves it. He is such a fan of Gladiators now. He has been watching all the old Gladiators re-runs and he really was my inspiration to do this. He told me “Dad – you can do this”. He pushed me to become a Gladiator. I am small guy and thought that Gladiators was just for big body builders. My son told me that I could do it. He is eleven now and is loving being at Gladiators arena."

Q: "How do you feel about being a role model for children?"

Militia: "I love it. I love to work with children and I want to help children to think about their futures. I'm a single dad; I'm my son's mum and dad in one and I do the mother and father roles. I've been helping a lot of kids at his school. I want to help kids who don't think that they have a chance. I want to show them that they can change their lives."

Q: "What is your message for your new fans"

Militia: "My message to all the fans of this show is simply to never give up. I have been through a lot in my life and when I escaped Cuba, I ended up in the ocean. I had left with five of my friends and we were in the water for five days, before being rescued. I could have lost my life and sadly some of my friends did. But whilst in the water, I never gave up hope and I am here today to tell you to never give up. So my message to everyone is just never give up!"

Carlos Acosta is the Royal Ballet's new King of Dance

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-556289/Carlos-Acosta-Royal-Ballets-new-King-Dance.html

By MOIRA PETTY

Last updated at 00:01 04 April 2008

There is a guaranteed collective intake of breath when Carlos Acosta leaps on stage. No wonder, as he is the Royal Ballet's new King of Dance, a sizzling Cuban firecracker, hailed by some as the Latin Rudolf Nureyev.

In fact, he causes such a sensation on stage that this classy performer has now been given his own show.

We are lucky that he is on the stage before us at all. As a boy, Acosta resisted his father's attempts to steer him away from poverty and a life of crime by turning him into a dancer but, in the end, ballet chose him. He is now regarded as the leading male dancer of his generation.

"I knew I had something from the start," he admits. "I would skip classes for weeks or even months but when I came back, I was always way up there with high scores.

"If my father hadn't pushed me into ballet, I would have fallen into crime, for sure. I would probably have been involved in stealing and would most likely have tried to escape to the USA on a raft. I know people who did it and they survived, but many drowned."

As a boy, he played truant, became a break-dancing champion and played football in the streets. He secretly applied to join one of the football academies set up by Fidel Castro but was turned down. When he looks now at the discipline demanded of ballet dancers and compares it with the hedonistic lives of some of our top footballers, whose exploits too often bring shame on the sport, does he think it is all wasted on them?

He shrugs and runs a hand through his cocoa-coloured curls: "Maybe. But what can you do? I don't envy them but there is so much work involved in dance and the corps de ballet dancers and even soloists are quite badly paid. Top footballers can make in a month what some dancers earn in their whole career."

Now 34, Carlos has travelled the globe since he was 16, dancing with the world's elite ballet companies including the American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet, with whom he is now a principal guest artist.

He is about to bring two shows to London's Coliseum. The first, his Olivier Award-winning programme featuring stars of the Royal Ballet in both classical and contemporary pieces, gives a "behind-the-scenes" glimpse of the life of a ballet company.

The second, Carlos in Cuba, reflects the heritage of his homeland and stars some of its top dancers, including Yolanda Correa, principal dancer with Ballet Nacional de Cuba and members of Danza Contemporanea.

Carlos was schooled in the Russian Vaganova style of ballet which fuses French classicism with Russian soulfulness. It is marked by athletic leaps and vigorous turns - Carlos is often said to have a "superhero" style.

He has danced all the leading classical roles, stunning Bolshoi Ballet audiences who had never seen a black Prince in Swan Lake and silencing those who thought he lacked the elegance to master Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty.

The aristocratic polish has not dimmed the simmering sexuality of his performance. Nor is he a disappointment in the flesh. Dressed in jeans and a sweater, his body is strong and toned. He is warm and friendly, but exudes the unfettered sex appeal of a rock star.

"That pleases me," he says in his softly accented English. "There is a big element of eroticism in ballet, to do with the way we dress and expose our bodies. We dancers cannot detach ourselves from that."

He once said that the ballerinas of one company he worked with early on in his career would fail to meet his eyes when he arrived for rehearsals. Perhaps they shied away from such a frank interest in sex. "I've had many affairs," he acknowledges.

Now, though, he is in another phase of his life, settled in Islington, North London with his girlfriend, Charlotte, of whom he will reveal only that she is not a dancer.

"I think it's healthier not being with a dancer because your conversation is broader. You're not talking about ballet all the time, which is what dancers tend to do."

His parents never married and his father is 30 years older than his mother. He is the youngest of 11 children by the same father but two mothers. While he was growing up, his mother - who he was very close to - suffered a brain haemorrhage. His father meanwhile, spent two years in prison.

"We didn't grow up believing in God or marriage. Those were just words to use. We respected people, but not because the Bible told us to."

In 1989, aged 16, he left Cuba to work in Italy, and a year later won the Prix de Lausanne gold medal when he was with the Turin Ballet.

"I didn't speak other languages and I felt a huge cultural and communication gap. You need language to find friends and I didn't have it. The only thing I had to hang on to was the ballet, which was what I was there for.

"Sometimes I still feel displaced, but now I've been living this way for so long that I have come up with mechanisms of defence against it. It's as if I have my life on hold while I live this other life.'

He visits Cuba around five times a year and has a house there. He also ploughs money into charitable causes in Cuba and plans, when he retires, to set up his own company there in association with the Ministry of Culture.

Carlos hopes when the time comes for retirement, at around 40, he will do so with the grace of Darcey Bussell with whom he appeared on her last night at Covent Garden last year.

"She got out at her peak and we're always going to remember her as the star she was. I hope I can do so with the same style," he says. It is a day his fans hope will be a long time coming.

• Carlos Acosta appears as part of the Spring Dance at the London Coliseum season - Carlos in Cuba, April 9-12.

Carlos Acosta, Havana,Tv int.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmcPBttz0s8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Romeo I Julija,proba ROH,London

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THwMG1G7gtQ&feature=related

Frost over the World - Carlos Acosta - 8 May 09 TV Int.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXPfx4N6Tec&feature=fvw

Royal Ballet in Havana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYf4miZSB-U&feature=related

El Royal Ballet de Londres por primera vez en Cuba

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxQFgtDo19s&feature=related

Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta - Swan Lake